Dot´s First Day

 This term during class we were taught and shown the different genres of puppetry and how to make a puppet of our own come to life with just a few movements. For this final project we were assigned to make our own puppet shows that would be educational or push the boundaries of what you would expect from a usual puppet show. 

My performance is one that takes on the topic of death, I wanted to express in my own way how directly It’s been affecting all of us. I wanted to symbolize all of humanity through Dot, a very confused reaper who is anxious of what's to come in their new job much like most of us were feeling at the beginning of quarantine. I took inspiration from the Netflix animated podcast series The Midnight Gospel. The show touches on very deep existential questions and show peoples views on life through very trippy and cartoony visuals. I wanted to achieve the same thing with my puppets and how goofy they act.

In the beginning I thought that referring to these subjects should be handled in the most serious way but then remembered that all ways of viewing things is valuable and that you don't always need to know the answers to everything because it isn't possible.

The story of Dot the new employee and Ted the tour guide is one reflecting on how stressful work and the world can be. Especially now with the conditions of quarantine having such a mental toll on people. Change is scary, that’s why I tried to find the light funny side of things and make this company of reapers who have some very strange employees. I wanted this show to take some of that stress and pain that we've been feeling away with a cute puppet show. 

I would like to thank Aaron and Hiu for this awesome oppurtunity. I've always wanted to make my own universe come to life and finally got to make my characters actual 3D puppets. I had some struggles figuring out exactly what I wanted to achieve with my performance and the materials were kind of a struggle to find but over all I love how it turned out.